Flagon Wars 1
by Cougarmadcat
Summary: Since she first walked into the Sunken Flagon Bishop could not tell what in the world to think of this hobbit who claimed to be the bar owner's niece. This is one installment of their Flagon wars. All characters except Avera belong to Bioware.


They trudged into the Sunken Flagon and dropped into their normal seating pattern. Neeska rubbed her temples as Elanee melted into her chair and Khelgar turned his seat backwards to drape his arms over the back. Avera pushed her chair into it's normal spot then pushed the back against the wall. She hopped onto the chair and flung her little hobbit feet on the chair in front of her so she'd have a good view of the Flagon.

"Another satisfying day of clobbering thugs. I love yer job, lass."

Avera shook her head, "That last batch was a bit rough. Two mages? Do they breed thug mages on a farm or something?"

Elanee grinned at the smaller woman, "You do realize there is at least one mage school in Neverwinter?"

"Considering that is where our fire bug is from, yes I kind of gathered that."

Speaking of the devil." Neeska piped in as Qara advanced.

"Now there's a kettle calling ..."

"Oh hush up you half-sized barbarian."

"A little better but not by much." Qara announced to Neeshka as she sat at the end of the table and looked back at Avera, "You will never guess what happened yesterday." She quipped.

"You're right. I wouldn't." Avera answered in just as disdainful a voice as Qara had used.

"Well, I went over to that ranger who's always watching you and asked him how he was doing."

Avera shrugged, "Yeh so?"

"Well he ignored me then when I asked again he said that if he wanted a hooker he'd go to the local brothel."

Khelgar guffawed shooting beer out his nose. He began cleaning it up as Qara glared at him.

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

Qara glared at the hobbit, "Tell me why he's interested in you instead of me."

"Excuse me?" Avera almost choked on her mead.

"He's always watching you. Why would he be interested in you instead of me?"

Avera blinked a couple of times, stunned by her words, but Khelgar decided to jump into the fray, "Maybe because she isn't some whiny, immature princess who always only thinks of herself."

"What ranger are you talking about?" the hobbit queried before Qara could turn on the dwarf.

"You know what ranger." Qara snarled.

"Brown hair, brown eyes with a perpetual sneer on his face? The guy who looks like he eats small woodland creatures live for breakfast?"

"Don't be coy. There has to be a reason he is interested in you."

Avera grimaced, "Are you kidding? That man would sooner cut out my throat then kiss it!"

Qara rolled her eyes, "Maybe his endowments just are not substantial enough for a proper sized woman."

Neeshka snorted, "You certainly haven't taken a look at that codpiece! That isn't stuffing in there. I took a quick check."

"Neeshka!" Elanee howled in surprise.

"Oh give it up. I was checking for coins but he doesn't hide them there either."

Khelgar's forehead was on the table by this time as he was trying to muffle his boisterous guffaws. He started to choke and Elanee swatted his back.

"If you keep making Khelgar choke like that then you can't play with him anymore." Neeshka chuckled, "Then again that would be an easy way to get rid of him. Choke him to death with laughter. Yeh that works."

"Shut up goat-girl." He coughed.

"I just don't understand why he watches you." Her voice became a petulant whine.

"Qara there is a difference between watching someone because you want to roll them in the hay and watching them because you want to gut them, cut them into little pieces and drop it all off at the local pig farm!"

"He watches her uncle all the time as well." Elanee mentioned trying to help as she continued to hit Khelgar's back to get him breathing properly.

Qara brightened up, "Maybe that is it! He likes men and is interested in Duncan so he's concerned about how his niece will react."

"Quit the socializing girl," Duncan yelled from the bar, "There's tables to clean!"

Avera rubbed the bridge of her nose as Qara walked off snarling at her uncle, "Now I know why she hates books so much. She's too stupid to read." She turned her head to the side to look at the red faced dwarf, "You ok?"

"Aye lass. She's too self-centered for words and that was more than I could handle. Why were ye looking for coins there tiefling?"

"Some people put their coin purses in the weirdest of places."

With a slight giggle, Avera stood, "I have got to get some air!"

"Just be careful and stay close lass. I'm not sure how far I can run to help ye if there's trouble."

She stood, stretched and left the building. A few minutes later a form pushed it's way from the shadows and followed.

He stood in the night air calmly looking down the street. She had just come out but he wasn't sure which way she would go. After a moment of concentration a dire wolf appeared and looked up at his master, "Find her." He announced silently then leaned against the wall of the Sunken Flagon.

It was quiet outside. A nice night to check out the opposition. He stretched and looked into the direction his wolf had gone thinking that he would be well on his way but there it stood looking past the building, "I thought I …"

"Puppy!"

He hardly had time to register anything before a small form flung itself from the behind the building and wrapped itself around the dire wolf's head, petting the animal and calling him a "sweet puppy." The dire wolf gave him a shocked, "What do I do now?" look then got a satisfied grin on his face. Yes, she found his ear and was scratching it.

A grimace was all he could muster as all he could see of the hobbit was her torso and legs. The rest of her seemed caught up in the dire wolf's hair. Then she backed up, crouched a little bit and slapped her legs. It wouldn't have gotten his eyebrow to shoot up in surprise if it had been a larger person trying to play with the animal. But here she was, a person his dire wolf could eat in a bite and a nibble playing with the animal as if it were a puppy!

After rolling on the ground with the animal and having a hearty play, Avera got up and patted the top of his head, "Good fella."

She turned and walked towards the Flagon's door but stopped directly in front of him. She didn't turn or look in his direction. With a flick of the wrist she pulled a small knife from it's scabbard and twirled it around in her fingers for a few moments without looking. Her twirling stopped and she held it by the handle then resheathed it. A moment longer and she was in the Sunken Flagon.

Bishop smirked. Well that was interesting. The little woman had just pointed out without so much as a word that she knew what he was about and that she wouldn't be easy prey. Well well. How in the world she was related to Duncan was beyond him.

The dire wolf trudged up to him with his head down and tail between his legs, whining. Bishop looked down at him then rubbed an ear, "Don't worry boy. I can't get angry at you for enjoying a good rub from a woman now can I?"


End file.
